Multifunctional polarization converting metasurface and its application to reduce the radar cross-section of an isolated MIMO antenna

Abstract

This paper presents a wideband metasurface, based on polarization conversion operation and its application for the radar cross-section (RCS) reduction of an isolated MIMO antenna. The wideband metasurface is capable of converting linear polarization to orthogonal and circular polarizations. Linear polarization conversion is achieved over a wideband frequency range of 7.6–9.0 GHz. Whereas, linear-to-circular polarization is achieved in two different bands, from 7.10 to 7.40 GHz and 9.20 to 9.45 GHz. The RCS reduction is accomplished by destructive interference of the scattered waves, through the two sides of the designed metasurface. RCS reduction is achieved from 7.6 GHz to 8.6 GHz, with a maximum reduction of −32 dB at 7.6 GHz. To validate the RCS reduction, the polarization conversion metasurface is integrated with the isolated MIMO antenna working from 8.0–8.6 GHz, with high isolation of −25 dB. The radiation characteristics of the MIMO antenna are well preserved. The proposed integrated metasurface MIMO antenna is experimentally validated to verify the simulated results.